Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within
Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within, known as Clock Tower: Ghost Head in Japan, is a PlayStation exclusive point-and-click survival horror game and the third installment in the Clock Tower series. It was developed and published by Human Entertainment on March 12, 1998 (Japan) and later published by Agetec on October 31, 1999 (North America). It was released as a PlayStation Classic on the PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 on May 9, 2012 (Japan). Generally regarded as being the worst installment in the series, the game had received poor reception, mainly due to its poor graphics, plot holes, and bad voice acting. The gameplay can be very frustrating and unforgiving; for example, in Chapter 1, if the player forgets to examine something or examines something in the wrong order, they will be given a bad ending, and during Chapter 3, the player is forced to backtrack through several rooms to use a fire extinguisher in order to get rid of zombies chasing them. However, despite the bad reception, it has a small fan base. Plot :This plot summary follows the canon Ending A. Chapter 1: Cursed Yellow Doll Philip and Kathryn Tate are seen sitting at the table. Philip tells his wife that their niece, Alyssa Hale, will be arriving that night, and attempts to comfort her by saying that their daughter Ashley will be home soon. A noise is heard at the door, and Kathryn gets up to check it it's the former. Philip mumbles to himself about the Maxwell Curse before Kathryn's scream is heard at the door, and he rushes over. Alyssa arrives at the house that night. As no one answers when she announces her entrance, she begins to look around and finds several oddly green body parts around the house, including a still-moving arm. She ventures upstairs and, around this time, awakens the samurai armor. She reaches Ashley's room to find her severed head on the ground, which is also a sickly green. Alyssa's trauma upon finding her cousin's head causes Bates to emerge. As Bates, who is now controlling Alyssa's body, returns downstairs to the breakfast nook he finds the Amulet, allowing Alyssa to come back into control. When she enters the kitchen, she encounters her younger cousin, Stephanie, who attempts to stab her with a kitchen knife. Alyssa flees and eventually reaches the master bedroom, where she finds her aunt about to be stabbed by Stephanie. Alyssa pushes Stephanie over and tells Kathryn to escape; Bates then takes over and kicks Stephanie over once more before leaving and locking the room. Later, Alyssa returns to the bedroom and finds a letter from her father, Allen Hale addressed to Philip, detailing how he is leaving the Golden Statue in his possession; the letter is postmarked sixteen years ago. She returns to Stephanie's room to find the statue missing, and goes downstairs where she finds her uncle, who tells her to hide in the den. She does so and descends the stairs to the basement, where Philip attempts to strangle her. She escapes and rushes upstairs. Soon after, she finds him collapsed in the den, yelling for her to burn the statue. She picks it up and goes to the dining room where she throws it into the fireplace as Stephanie emerges from the next room. As she prepares to burn it, Stephanie lunges at her, knocking off the amulet. Bates once again awakens and stabs her, then picks up the amulet again, causing Alyssa to come back into control. She throws the lighter into the fireplace, igniting the statue, and both she and Stephanie collapse. Chapter 2: Noisy Monsters Cage Alyssa wakes up in Memorial Hospital where Alex Corey explains that he took both her and Stephanie there after getting a call from Kathryn. A man's scream interrupts them, and he goes outside to check, leaving Alyssa alone in the room. Alyssa begins to encounter zombies as she explores, in addition to hear a mysterious female voice in certain places. She meets Doug Bowman, a newspaper reporter interested in the situation, and eventually finds Alex upstairs, with growing a suspicion of the missing Philip. Alyssa finds Jessica Cook hiding in the storage closet but is only able to get any information out of her with Bates. She tells him the information on the zombies is in her office, and he goes there to discover that the zombies' weak points are their parasitic brains. Later, Henry Kaplan tries to strangle Alyssa in his office, but he is shot dead by Shannon Lewis. Alyssa attempts to thank her for saving her life, but she states that she only did it because she wouldn't let Alyssa "die so easily." In addition, Alyssa finds Jessica in her previous place, preparing to hang herself, and manages to convince her to go on living, and meets back up with Doug, who heads to the Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab. Alyssa attempts to escape out the back door, but finds it locked. Alex appears and shoots it open with his pistol, and a crowd of zombies attempt to get inside. Alyssa then faints to the ground as he kills each of them with a shotgun. Chapter 3: The Fathers Alyssa wakes up in the Memorial Pharmaceuticals Research Lab with Alex, who came there after seeing Philip go inside; the two then part ways. Alyssa soon finds George Maxwell, a bloodied, hatchet-wielding man who begins to chase her. Afterwards, Alyssa finds Shannon who introduces herself to her. She asks Alyssa if she came there to die, but lets her go so that she may "have a bit of fun" with her in the events following. Alyssa then comes across Alex again, who has also seen the killer. Later, Alyssa finds Maxwell in the lab, claiming she wasn't "supposed to have been born." She flees again, and soon comes across her father handcuffed to a pipe. After setting him free, the two go to go into Philip's office after encountering Maxwell again. She begs Allen to explain, but he rushes her inside. There, she finds Philip claiming he has finally discovered the secret of the Maxwell Curse. Downstairs, Alyssa finds Shannon angrily claiming that she ruined her life, and promptly tries to strangle her. Bates emerges and throws Shannon away, who then leaves the room, astonished. Alyssa reaches the graveyard where she finds the dying Philip. He explains to her that the curse never really existed, and warns Alyssa with his last breath. Later on, Shannon catches up with Alyssa, and Allen enters the room and tells her to kill him instead of Alyssa. Unable to have her revenge, she takes a supposed cyanide pill, committing suicide in their presence. As Allen exits the room, he reveals to Alyssa that Shannon was his daughter. In the next room, Alyssa sees Alex Corey, who states that his investigation is over. He offers to escape with her, but she refuses, claiming she can't just leave things the way they are. In the chapel, Alyssa finds Allen confronting George Maxwell. He explains that he envied him, and reveals to Alyssa that she is not his biological daughter, but instead the daughter of Maxwell himself, and was buried alive due to being cursed with an alter ego. As Maxwell tries to attack Alyssa, he is shot by Allen and falls to the ground. Allen continues to explain that he loved her, and because of this, infected the statue with the toxin in order to make Maxwell go insane. He then says goodbye and tells her to leave, as the building is about to explode, and collapses. Maxwell rises and attempts to kill Alyssa once more, but she is saved by Alex, who shoots him. The two then escape. Outside, Alyssa and Alex are seen watching the building in flames. She laments over her father's death, claiming she should have died instead. Alex states that it's not like she died there once already, and claims he has to leave in order to take care of the remaining zombies. Alyssa looks up and smiles. Endings Ending A: A flashback showing Philip Tate and Allen Hale in the graveyard digging up baby Alyssa and a statue. Back to the present, Alyssa and Alex Corey are shown to be in front of the laboratory which is collapsing due to the explosion ignited by Allen Hale. Now, a distraught Alyssa is mourning everyone's deaths thinking her existence is the cause of the tragedy that took place. Thinking of how things have turned out if she had died all those years ago Alex tries to comfort her by saying, "It's not that you'd died there once already y'know." After that Alex continues to eliminate the zombies that are still roaming the area. Alyssa, now smiling after realizing the meaning behind his words of consolation. Ending B: Meeting up with Detective Alex Corey again, they realize that the situation is getting out of hand and that they need back up so they try to escape together. Alyssa then asks Corey if her father is safe to which he answers that "It's a miracle to survive...". Ending C: After managing to survive Shannon's attack Alyssa stumbles upon Reporter Doug Bowman. Realizing their mistake in coming to the laboratory they attempt to "jet out" of there. But even though they realize the dangers inside the lab Alyssa is not sure if it's right to just leave but Mr. Bowman assures her that they can't be of much help. Ending D: Alyssa stumbles upon Shannon who blames her curse befalling her saying she will never forgive her for that. Then, Shannon kills Alyssa by strangling her to death. The last thing seen of Shannon is her, laughing at Alyssa's foolishness. Ending E: Bates finds Allen Hale and blames him for everything that has happened. Allen then tries to shift the blame on him saying he is cursed. Bates shrugs and says what does it even matter. Allen then continues saying his existence was a mistake. Bates then kills Allen with a survival knife. (The final words heard depend on the version. In the Japanese version it's Allen Hale, in the English it's Bates.) Ending F: Bates finds a man covered in blood with a big hatchet. He asks that is he Maxwell to which the man replies muttering about Bates not supposed to being born. Bates then tries to threaten him but to no avail. The man then kills Bates using his hatchet. The man continues his onslaught saying "Everyone must die!". Ending G: Alyssa walks into a courtyard and examines a puddle of blood on the ground. George Maxwell then throws Michael's armor from the roof and it lands on her, killing her. (This ending can only be activated if the player does not examine Michael's armor in the 1st chapter.) Ending H: Bates finds the mysterious woman in one of the office rooms inside the laboratory. She says her name is Shannon and tells him she can help him achieve death. Bates threathens to send Shanon to meet her maker but before he can do anything Shannon shoots him in the stomach killing him. Shannon then stands up and says "Good riddance you cursed girl!" then she declares that her grudge will last forever. Ending I: After Alyssa throws the statue and the kerosene in the fireplace, she doges Stephanie's attack, and Bates takes over and steals her knife and stabs her. After this, (if the player does not pick up the amulet), Stephanie gets up and stabs Bates. Ending J: Finding his way to the baseman, Bates finds Philip Tate holding the cursed statue. After realizing his meddling caused the Maxwell curse to doom his family and Alyssa, Philip strangles Bates in the basement. His last words, before going insane were "Let's end it all... Death is the only way... ...for cursed people like us." Ending K: After Bates meets Philip on 1st floor, he enters the dining room and screams. When Alyssa/Bates enters the reading room (with the key found on Philip's arm on the ground), she/he finds Philip sitting in a chair and Stephanie enters by the window and stabs both. Ending L: Bates takes over Alyssa's body and kicks Stephanie. The player then has a choice of either locking the bedroom door or not. If you don't, the player will obtain this ending. Depending upon picking up the Amulet, Alyssa/Bates goes on the balcony to see a dead Aunt Kathryn. Then, Stephanie appears and stabs Alyssa/Bates to death. Ending M: Alyssa pushes Stephanie, telling Kathryn to run and leave the bedroom. If the player does not put down the amulet before these events, the player will obtain this ending. Stephanie then gets up and runs to Alyssa, stabbing her. Trivia * The story is set in Spring of 1999, according to the instruction manual that comes with the game. * While the game is part of the Clock Tower series, it does not take place in Europe as many of the others do; it takes place in Osaka, Japan. In the North American version, the setting was changed to Salinas, California, and the characters were given Westernized names. Untranslated Japanese can be seen during the second chapter in the North American, however. * Clock Tower 3 and this game share similar names. For instance, Alyssa Hamilton and Alyssa Hale. Alyssa's uncle in this game is Philip Tate and in Clock Tower 3, Alyssa´s father is named Philip. * Alyssa has up to three costumes which she can use. One is her default costume, the other; a monkey costume with a red skirt and lastly; a traditional Japanese school girl uniform. * Alyssa can use an alternate amulet called "Milicana" (Inori-sama) that can shoot multiple beams of energy at a stalker killing or stunning him/her, depending on the stalker in question. Gallery Clock_Tower_2.jpg|Art of Clock Tower II. GHMP.jpg|A Ghost Head mouse pad. Category:Games Category:Clock Tower 2